Charaka Philosophy

Charaka relied upon Vedic rituals and gods in formulating his Samhita (literally in Sanskrit it means either literature or compilation). The Indian philosophy based around the Vedas is a synthesis of earlier and crude Indian philosophies such as Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa, Yoga and Vedanta. He accepted many principles of Buddhism and Jainism although both these schools of thought did not accept Vedic relevance. His only philosophical motive was to figure out a system to alleviate the sufferings of human-being. He believed that his system of medicine should be different from existing ones as they were not effective and had no hesitation in picking up right threads from other Samhitas to incorporate in his system of medicine, but definitely, he refined, such borrowings before incorporation.

The history of medical knowledge in India has a fine innings in folklore, verbal testimony, traditional practice, tribal remedies etc. The time tested improvement galvanized the system in tune with the pass of time. Charaka Samhita is such a refined product from the forerunner - Samhitas, especially from Agnivesa Tantra which were in vogue many centuries ago.

Charaka Samhita dealt with extensively all branches of medical science and human body. Some branches have not been individualized but cleverly and clearly clubbed with other branches with wide elaborations. The Samhita has a great leaning on Mahabharata which is an exclusive encyclopedia from health point of view.

Let us peep into some of the Charaka analyses:

More about Charaka & Ayurveda

From Karma Kerala

Charaka Philosophy